1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to accessing peripheral devices networked at a wireless hotspot. More specifically, the present invention relates to authenticating a mobile device and sending an authorization to peripheral devices networked at the wireless hotspot that can be accessed by the mobile device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, there are thousands of “wireless hotspots” across the world. A wireless hotspot is an area or venue offering wireless access to the Internet via a local wireless network. Ordinarily, this is achieved using an “access point”, which is a device that relays data between wireless and wired networks. For example, a coffee shop may install an access point to provide a wireless hotspot for customers who wish to obtain Internet access. Similarly, universities, municipalities, and amusement theme parks may provide wireless Internet access to students, residents, and visitors, respectively, by installing several access points around campuses, city blocks, and theme park grounds.
There are well-established protocols for obtaining Internet access at wireless hotspots operated by different Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISPs). For example, the WISPr protocol allows mobile users to “roam” between wireless networks served by different WISPs while using the access credentials of their home service provider. In this regard, Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA) servers provide support to protocols such as WISPr by allowing WISPs to authenticate, monitor, and bill users for Internet access at the hotspot. Thus, for example, an AAA server managed by the local WISP can authenticate a user at a hotspot and send usage records to an AAA server of a “home entity” which maintains a user's account, so that the home entity can bill the user for the Internet access privileges obtained at the “foreign” hotspot. The WISPs supporting WISPr usually have agreements for sharing the revenues collected from the end users who take advantage of the roaming convenience.
As the use of wireless hotspots proliferates, users will want conveniences that are now found primarily in a home network, such as access to peripheral devices, to be available while the user is away from home. For example, a user on vacation with a digital video camera may wish to burn a DVD of his video images to give to a friend before returning home. Similarly, the user of a digital still camera may wish to print photos of images to share with friends and family members while still on vacation.
However, as opposed to WISPr and other established protocols for gaining authenticated wireless Internet access and accounting for that access, there is currently not anything comparable to provide authentication, authorization, and accounting for mobile devices to gain access to peripheral devices located at a wireless hotspot.